city of aspen

This election voters in Aspen will choose from a full list of candidates. A history of several candidates running for local office isn’t uncommon in Aspen. In fact, it’s the norm. This year, two people are running for a two-year mayor’s term. Seven are running for two open council seats. Council terms are four years. As Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen reports.

Bill Stirling was mayor of Aspen for eight years from the mid 1980’s to the early 90’s. In one race, he decided to meet the public outdoors.

Staffers at the city-owned Aspen Recreation Center are updating their business plan in an effort to save taxpayers money. As Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen reports, the facility is heavily subsidized.

Taxpayers pitch in to pay for community recreation centers around the country. Tim Anderson is Director for the Aspen Recreation Center that has a $4 million annual budget. He says the facility raises more than half of that. The rest is subsidized by city government.

This afternoon Aspen City Council will review an audit of city finances, and take comments on who should take over the Old Power House building. The audit comes after a widespread parking scam. The review shows the parking scam cost the City more than $200,000-- much less than previously thought, because the audit assumes people who took advantage of free parking would have found a way to avoid parking in the first place, rather than paying the usual twenty eight dollars a day.

A large pool of candidates is vying for three open seats on Aspen City Council. Monday at 5pm was the deadline for candidates to submit paperwork for the May election. A total of nine people are running.

Current mayor Steve Skadron and former councilman Torre are running for the mayor’s seat. Seven candidates are running for the other open council seat. They are Marcia Goshorn, Tom McCabe, Keith Goode, Andy Israel, Bert Myrin, Mick Ireland and Adam Frisch. City Clerk Linda Manning announced the list of candidates at Monday's city council meeting.

Now that funding is in place to renovate the Rubey Park bus depot in downtown Aspen, a public outreach effort is starting. The City will warn people about construction.

The $9.3 million renovation project will modernize Rubey Park and fix things like cracking concrete and cramped bus parking. The construction project will renovate the interior of the existing clock tower building and add two buildings to either side of it. Parking for buses will change too.

A parking scam in Aspen was not as costly as expected. That’s according to a new audit of City finances. A Denver-based auditor calculated less than $200,000 in city revenue were lost when people abused a parking meter glitch from 2012 to 2014. Previous estimates were upwards of a half million dollars. Overall the auditor says Aspen has good rules in place to make sure revenue is handled safely, with some exceptions.

An elected board that makes decisions on local transit considered a series of funding requests Thursday. The Elected Officials Transportation Committee approved 3 of 4 requests for projects from Glenwood Springs to Aspen.

The board is in charge of a fund that collects money from Pitkin County half-cent sales and use taxes. Much of the money funds the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. Those behind last night’s proposals were hoping to get some of the remaining dollars.

The push continues to create economic development in Aspen centered around hiking uphill on ski or snowboard gear, also known as uphilling. Mayor Steve Skadron has spearheaded the effort and met last weekend with ski manufacturers, members of the Italian consulate, race organizers, local gear and guide services, and others. It was part of the Aspen Uphill festival on Saturday.

Aspen City Council Monday again tackled the issue of using hydroelectricity to generate power in town. The elected officials voted to allow a permit to expire for the controversial Castle Creek Energy Center. But, micro-hydro projects will be explored.

The City is considering micro-hydro on Maroon and Castle Creeks for three reasons: to generate power using renewable sources, maintain healthy stream flows and preserve City water rights.

Memorial benches have been a long tradition in Aspen. But about a dozen that have been living in Galena Plaza now need a new home. The benches honor members of the community, whether they’re long time locals, part timers, or have otherwise spent time in Aspen. Thirteen benches need new homes because they’ll uprooted for a construction project on Galena Plaza.